Shards
by starrynightshade
Summary: The first time Skye used the word it was sarcastic. "Yes, Mom."


_A/N: A little May/Skye bonding to help cope with the S2 premier. Enjoy, and please review!_

The first time Skye used the word it was sarcastic. May had been giving her a lesson in offensive maneuvers (while simultaneously helping her with her Mandarin) and her brain and body were both aching.

"Alright, let's call it a day." May said, helping her up off the ground.

Skye grimaced. "Does it ever stop hurting?" She whined, limping towards her water bottle and rubbing her sore back.

"Go take an ice bath."

"Yay. My favorite."

"It will help." May persisted. "And drink all of that water, you need to stay hydrated."

Skye gave a huge sigh, rolling her eyes. "Yes,_ Mom_."

There was no one else around to see Melinda smile as Skye walked away.

It became a sort of running joke between them. May would tell her to do something, and Skye would call her Mom with a sarcastic tone and a roll of her eyes.

"If you keep doing that, your eyes will get stuck that way." Melinda would say.

Skye would just smile and do it again. "What are you gonna do, ground me?" All she received in return was a look that said 'I just might.'

They had grown closer since arriving at the Playground. Between May's lessons in combat, flying, and various languages, they'd been spending hours a day together, and Skye had come to trust her in a way she hadn't been able to before. Sure, she had always had respect for May, but there had been a distance between them. Now, it seemed that they had managed to bridge the gap and form something close to a friendship. At least, that's how Skye thought of it. But then again she didn't really have much else to compare the relationship to until she finally used the word without sarcasm-at which point it all became crystal clear.

It was 2:30 in the morning, and she was just staring at the ceiling. It had been over a week since Coulson had sent her to speak to Ward, and his every word had been on repeat in the back of her mind since then. She had managed to keep him there, lurking on the edges of her consciousness, but tonight he had stepped front and center.

Giving up on sleep, she flicked on the lamp next to her bed. The dim light washed over the small room, casting sharp shadows on the walls. She didn't have much, just a some basic furniture and her personal belongings. Simmons had likened the rooms here to a university dorm room before… well, before. Skye didn't have much basis for comparison, but she had embraced the colorless room with gusto, trying to make it feel like somewhere she could call home. Still, she couldn't help feeling sometimes that she was just as trapped in here as Ward was down in his cell.

Running a hand through her hair, she mentally chastised herself for letting him get to her like that. But, her best efforts couldn't stop the flow of the words through her mind.

_"__I am not a good man, Skye." _Her heart ached at the realization that what she had insisted was a lie at the time, may have been the only honest words he'd ever said to her.

She threw the covers off and got out of bed. The cold floor under her feet helped her focus, clearing the fog from her head. Unfortunately, the first thing to emerge from the fog was _him_. The way he'd kissed her back at Providence, the way he'd sworn his feelings for her where real, the way he'd looked at her when she walked into his cell, as if he where seeing the sun for the first time in years. _"It's true."_ He had said. _"And so will be every word I say to you for the rest of my life."_

"Liar." She whispered, running her fingers along the spines of the books stacked on her desk. She recalled the things he'd said to her at Providence to convince her that everything was fine. "Liar." She repeated, and knocked the books to the ground. But the lies kept coming.

_"__You'll be plenty safe."_ He'd said, disarming her.

"Liar!" She sneered, picking up the cup of pens in front of her and hurling it at the wall.

_"__I can explain."_ He'd said, after she woke up on the Bus.

"Liar!" She yelled, and a hairbrush went sailing across the room.

_"__I would never hurt you."_

The word came flying from her mouth again. "Liar!" She picked up the glass of water from her bedside table and threw it to the ground. And when some of the shards of glass hit her skin, it didn't sting nearly as much as his betrayal had.

_"__Someday you'll understand."_

She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror hanging on the wall, and the wave of self-loathing that washed over her nearly knocked her off her feet. She didn't want to understand, but a part of her- the part that missed him-did. She looked at her deranged reflection. "I don't care." She insisted.

_Liar._

"Liar!" She screamed to the girl looking back at her. And she couldn't look away, but she could stand to look at herself anymore either, so she brought her fist up and smashed the mirror.

She was contemplating how much better her shattered reflection looked when the door flew open.

Skye felt her last thread of control fall away as she sank into May's arms. "Does it ever stop hurting?" She asked through her sobs.

She had hoped that the answer was yes, but Melinda May wouldn't lie to her. "I don't know." And somehow that was more comforting than all the pretty lies on earth.

When her tears had slowed to a stop, she looked up at May. "I'm sorry." She said, swiping away the moisture on her cheeks. "I should have done what you said, saved my anger for him."

"There's a difference between channeling your anger and bottling it up." Melinda said. "Do you feel better?"

"Kind of." Skye admitted.

May nodded. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up. Did you step on any glass?" She shook her head.

They walked to the bathroom together where May cleaned up her hand and wrapped the cuts that were scattered across her knuckles before pouring epsom salts into the tub and turning on the water. When the water was about six inches deep, she helped Skye perch on the edge of the tub to soak her feet. "If there's any glass in your feet, this should pull it out." She explained. "Don't take your feet out until I say so." And before Skye could utter her usual response, she was gone.

She sat there for several minutes, thinking about everything and nothing, and finally feeling tired. "You can take them out now." May said, reappearing in the doorway. Once her feet where dry, the two of them walked back to her room. The lack of glass on the floors told her where May had disappeared to.

"Try to sleep." Melinda said once Skye was settled back into her bed. Then, in a rare show of affection, she smoothed out a stray bit of Skye's hair before shutting the lamp off. "Goodnight Skye."

"Goodnight." May was almost out the door when the heard Skye speak up again. "Thanks, Mom." Her heart felt a little bit lighter as she walked back to her own room.


End file.
